'Surge in Covid cases likely due to grand weddings, local body election, farmer's protest': Harsh Vardhan

New Delhi, Apr 06: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday held a review meet with health ministers of 11 states and Union Territories, which has been witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases.

During the review meet, Vardhan said,''Our recovery rate is at 92.38%. Despite the increasing cases, fatality rate is at 1.30% of the country."

''Worst affected state is Chhattisgarh with positivity rate of 20% & growth rate of 8%. There has been 10 fold rise in cases. In Punjab, 80% UK variant cases found, which was confirmed by genome sequencing,'' Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.

''This has come to our notice that the sudden increase in cases are largely or may be event driven including grand weddings, local body election, farmer's protest, etc,'' he further said.

These 11 states are Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.

Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 57,074 which is 55.11 per cent of the new cases reported nationwide. It is followed by Chhattisgarh with 5,250 cases and Karnataka reported 4,553 fresh infections.

India''s total active caseload has reached 7,41,830 and comprises 5.89 per cent of the country''s total infections. A net increase of 50,233 active cases have been recorded in a day, the data presented by the health ministry showed.

Five states -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab -- cumulatively account for 75.88 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounts for nearly 58.23 per cent of the total active caseload, the ministry said.

India''s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,16,82,136 with 52,847 recoveries being registered in a span of 24 hours.

Besides, 478 deaths were reported in a day. Eight states account for 84.52 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw a maximum of 222 casualties, followed by 51 in Punjab.